You've reached the internet home of Chris Sells, who has a long history as a contributing member of the Windows developer community. He enjoys long walks on the beach and various computer technologies.
Sunday, Aug 3, 2003, 4:23 PM
Comics via RSS?
Here. Has anyone built a comics.com to RSS gateway? I'd like to subscribe to my favorite comics w/o being forced to actually visit the site on a daily basis (I don't do that anymore [*]). A dilbert.com to RSS gateway would be nice, too. [*] http://www.sellsbrothers.com/spout/#No_huggy,_no_kissy,_until_I_get_an_RSS_feed
Sunday, Aug 3, 2003, 4:20 PM
Positive Affirmation
Here. The one where I mix Scott Adams and losing the lottery and pretend that I'm OK with the whole thing... : )
Sunday, Aug 3, 2003, 11:41 AM in The Spout
No huggy, no kissy, until I get an RSS feed
Here. The one where I stoop to using a country song to make my point.
Sunday, Aug 3, 2003, 11:08 AM
Intellectual Sensuality
Here. I know exactly what you're talking about, Dave. I get this feeling when talking to a bunch of smart DevelopMentor and Microsoft guys. I *really* get it when I'm giving a talk and I'm really *on*. All of us need a cigarette after an experience like that…
Sunday, Aug 3, 2003, 10:41 AM
"Sudden Wealth Syndrome"
Here. That's a disease *I* want!
Sunday, Aug 3, 2003, 12:00 AM in The Spout
No huggy, no kissy, until I get an RSS feed
Before RSS took over, I had a folder named "Daily" which had links to all of the URLs that I surfed to on a daily basis. One problem was that for the sites that changed daily, it was a pain to decide what was new. An even bigger problem was the ones that didn't change daily. Eventually, the pain of surfing to them daily was outweighed by the pleasure I would get when those sites were finally updated. A bunch of my friends' infrequently updated blogs fall into this category (you know who you are : ).
Sure, RSS is useful to track Scoble as he shirks his moving duties, but even more useful to track Tim when he eventually does update his blog. With RSS, I don't have to experience any pain surfing to Tim's blog day after day. Instead, I let SharpReader poll Tim's blog and when it's finally updated, I'll know about it. All gain; no pain.
What that means, unfortunately, is that I only read blogs with RSS feeds, because I've long ago gotten out of the habit of surfing my "Daily" folder. So when Josh Trupin (editor of MSDN Magazine) gave his reasons for being out of the office on Monday, he had to send me an email with a link to the description of his horrific train injury detailed on his blog. As fun a writer as Josh is, I won't go back (unless Google brings me there) 'til he's got an RSS feed. I've been hurt before; now I'm older and wiser and require an RSS feed before I'm willing to wed myself to a blog.
Sunday, Aug 3, 2003, 12:00 AM in The Spout
Positive Affirmation
I woke up at Don's house one day last week utterly convinced that I was going to win the lottery that day. It was 6:30a, which is early for me, but I had an 8a meeting (*very* early for Microsofties), so I had set the alarm. Tim, who was also staying at Don's that week and with whom I was sharing a room (separate beds : ) was on Eastern time, so had already accidently woken me at 6a that morning on his way to the door (it's not his fault; I'm too long for the bed and it's a tight squeeze to get past me when I'm I'm in it). I must've had some strong dream between 6a and 6:30a as I lay there in and out of sleep.
The premonition was so strong that I recalled the epilog from one of the first non-comic Dilbert books in which Scott Adams talked about his belief that there were multiple parallel universi and that by process of positive affirmations, he'd moved his consciousness into one that had attained great success in spite of his abysmal drawing abilities (this was before his TV series was canceled).
So, all morning, in classic positive affirmation style, I had "I will win the lottery today" running through my head. It swamped all other thoughts, except those of whether I wanted the annual payment or the lump sum ($25M or $13M, respectively) and how I was going to spend the money.
My first purchase was to be a two-week trip for my entire extended family to Hawaii where we would decide how rest of the money was to be spent. The idea was to devise a plan wherein every adult member of my family could get a life-changing amount of money, e.g. $100K, to use to follow their dreams, but awarded only in a manner that wouldn't actually cause more harm than good (as large sums of money can do [or so I've heard...]). Then, I called my sister-in-law to ask her where, money being no object, she would want to live. I've been looking for houses in her neighborhood lately so that we could be closer ("It takes a village to raise a child.").
Right away, she was suspicious of my question, "Why? Are you going to win the lottery?"
"Yes," I said, confidently.
"Really? How do you know?"
"I woke up with a 'feeling,'" I said, unashamed.
"How often have you had these feelings and they've come true?" she asked, judging her odds.
"Never."
"Oh," she said, disappointedly.
"No. I mean, I've never had a feeling like this before," I corrected her.
"Oh," she said, this time more excited. I've also loved that about my sister-in-law. She's very open-minded. She never once questioned my sanity (out loud), but instead started planning where she wanted to live. Her conclusion is that she'd want a nicer house very close to where she currently live, but basically, that was all. "I like my life," she said.
That was my conclusion as well. I have things that I want to do that aren't likely to generate an income stream, e.g. figure out how money works, but my life is a good one and doesn't need major changes. It was fun to go through the mental exercise and I would certainly have been happy to win the lottery that day, but it's OK that I didn't. That early morning feeling lead to positive affirmation of a different kind.
Friday, Aug 1, 2003, 10:24 AM in .NET
More Free, Cool WinForms Controls
Here. Includes a document manager, docking windows, menus and toolbars, outlook bar and wizards. Looks cool and they're free. Enjoy.
Friday, Aug 1, 2003, 10:19 AM
Why click the Start button to shutdown?
Here. Raymond Chen from the MS shell team aswers the age-old question.
Thursday, Jul 31, 2003, 4:10 PM in .NET
Magic: The User Interface Library for .NET
Here. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out Magic: The User Interface Library for .NET. It's got a ton of the UI stuff you always want, e.g. docking windows, menus with graphics, control styles and tons more. And the price is right -- it's free! BTW, there is some overlap in the UI department with Genghis [1], but Genghis has some other non-UI stuff worth checking out, too. [1] http://www.genghisgroup.com
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2003, 10:13 AM
Real Legend: Interview with Brian Kernighan
Here. Brian Kernighan is the K in K&R C and in AWK. He's a real legend and seems, from his interview, to be an all around pleasant fellow. I would've like to have worked with him.
Tuesday, Jul 29, 2003, 4:33 PM in .NET
The Original .NET Redneck
Here. Shawn Morrissey captures Eric Sink in a rare photo op.
Tuesday, Jul 29, 2003, 2:03 PM
Microsoft Developer Tools Roadmap 2003-2005
Here. Plans for Visual Studio tools for Office in 2003, VS "Whidbey" in 2004 and VW "Orcas" in 2005.
Tuesday, Jul 29, 2003, 11:53 AM
A Look into the Future of Visual Studio
Here. I want it!
Tuesday, Jul 29, 2003, 10:54 AM in .NET
My First .NET Show
Here. The one where I have my first shoot on the .NET Show.